Variety with Low Sun

At last some sun at the right time. The images were taken on 6th October 2010 approximately 90 minutes before sunset.

Frontal lighting

Managed to keep my shadow out of the picture by moving slightly to the side and lying on the ground rather than taking the shot head on. Bracketed the shot 1 stop either side using auto exposure bracketing on the camera and setting the drive to multi shots. Life was made easier by the fact that the camera automatically stops after the three bracketed shots. 

Side lighting

Same set up as the first shot. None of the bracketed shots alone was very good so I merged the three in Photoshop using Merge to HDR pro.. and choosing 'photorealistic'. 

Back lighting

Again used AEB but found difficulty in minimising the flare of the sun. The statue of the three graces was of insufficient size to block the sun completely and this was my most successful try.

Rim lighting

I waited for the sun to move so that it is largely blocked by the statue. Used AEB. There is some rim lighting but given the 'hard edge' of the subject it is not as great as I hoped. (Actually I was unsure as to what to expect. I have seen the use of rim lighting on studio shots particularly on female hair but this is when the lighting is totally under the control of the photographer).

The major lesson learnt was to deal with the frustration of the conditions not being ideal or totally useless and having the patience to wait for the right moment. Took over 50 photographs to get the final images trying different camera settings, camera position and the height of the camera relative to the subject. The whole project proved challenging and therefore interesting.